Plan to cut post offices’ hours gets advisory panel’s OK

The independent Postal Regulatory Commission has given its OK to a plan to cut back hours at about 13,000 post offices nationwide, including nearly 60 in Sullivan, Ulster and Orange counties.

The plan was an alternate to closing many smaller and rural post offices as part of the agency’s overall effort to address its ongoing fiscal crisis.

The PRC’s opinion is only advisory, but the U.S. Postal Service was required to seek it because the change would affect service nationwide.

The affected post offices would see their daily hours reduced from 8 to 6, 4 or in some cases only 2.

The preliminary list of affected post offices included 29 in Sullivan County, 23 in Ulster County and seven in Orange County. The Postal Service has not yet said when the list will be made final and the reduced hours will be implemented.

Michael Randall

Local post offices that were on the preliminary list of those whose hours would be reduced when it was released last spring included: